Standard Member

This may sound a little absurd but I can probably stretch to the BENQ and I was wondering if I should given the recent advances in LCD projectors?

The reasoning went along the following lines, if I can afford the HS50 then I should consider the Optoma H57, then I realised I needed a much shorter throw so how about the InFocus 5700 ( £200-£300 more than the HS50 ) but then if I'm spending this much, why not spend a bit more and get something based around the Mustang DLP chip...hence the BENQ.

Any advice on the matter would be appreciated, I'm upgrading from an AE100 so I'm sure I'll see a huge improvement whatever I buy. I'm also using a HTPC so I'm not worried about the quality of internal scalers and deinterlacers as I'm intending to run 1:1 mapped.

Moderator

I would definitely try and demo (easier said than done) the Benq and the HS50. They are different technologies and with the Benq being a slightly older DLP you may suffer from rainbows.
I myself have viewed a few of the newer DLPs and dont suffer (i did with the older models) and was very impressed with the picture, very filmic, no sde etc.
I was going to get a DLP myself, the H77, but with the arrival of the HS50 this as kind of put a spanner in the works and i would like to demo this to see whether it suffers the same traits as other LCDs. From some of the reviews it does sound like an excellent machine for the price, but then so does the Benq.

Standard Member

The best prices I've seen are around £2500, however I haven't searched that hard. Demoing doesn't look like much of an option as very few, if any, bricks and mortar businesses carry BENQ products. It was updated to HD2+ specification in the spring so it's not that old, and the reviews on Projector Central compare it favourably with the Screenplay 7200 and 5700. Ideally I'd probably go with the Optoma H77 ( quietness, resolution, throw, contrast ) but I can't really justify £1000 for a quieter fan.

It will be interesting to see what happens when there are a few more reviews of the HS50 - reports on the web are varying from 'better than DLP' to 'no better than a AE700' although who'd believe anything on the internet ?

Active Member

I think the H57 has a much shorter throw than the 5700. In fact I was disappointed at how short it was, 'cos I wanted to put it on my back wall.

Other projectors for you to consider:

Mitsubishi HC900 - out now at £1600, with 7 segment, 4 speed wheel. Li On on avsforum had a lot of good things to say about this.
Sharp XV2000 - HD2+ due out soon, and will probably undercut the Benq 8700.
Benq 8720 - rumours of it's imminent announcement abound
Screenplay 5705 - ditto.

There they're the ones I'm dreaming about at the moment, anyway. I'm waiting to demo as many as possible.